Presidential election results map. Blue denotes states won by Jackson, Orange denotes those won by Adams, Green denotes those won by Crawford, Light Yellow denotes those won by Clay. Numbers indicate the number of electoral votes allotted to each state.

The presidential election of 1824 is notable for being the only election since the passage of the Twelfth Amendment to the United States Constitution to have been decided by the House of Representatives in accordance with its provision to turn over the choice of the president to the House when no candidate secures a majority of the electoral vote. It was also the only presidential election in which the candidate who received the most electoral votes did not become president (since Andrew Jackson's plurality of electoral votes was insufficient to prevent the election from being thrown into the House of Representatives). The election of 1824 is the first in which the successful presidential candidate did not win the popular vote. Several states did not permit a popular vote, but rather allowed the state legislature to choose their electors. Lastly, this election marked the seventh consecutive presidential victory for the Democratic-Republican Party, which, to this day, is still the longest presidential winning streak in American history.

General Election

Campaign

The previous competition between the Federalists and the Republicans had collapsed after the War of 1812. James Monroe had been nominated by a caucus of Republican members of Congress in 1816, and had won the election easily. As party politics declined, they were replaced by bitter personal and sectional contests. Like all the previous two-term presidents, Monroe declined to seek re-nomination, and with vice president Daniel D. Tompkins being viewed as unelectable due to his overwhelming unpopularity and major health problems (which would ultimately claim his life in June 1825, a little over three months after he left office), the field was left wide open for potential nominees. By 1824, there were five serious contenders for the presidency:

William H. Crawford, Secretary of the Treasury, who had been nominated by a caucus of a minority of the Republican members of Congress. The rest of Congress decided that the caucus was elitist, anti-democratic, and to be avoided.

John Quincy Adams, Secretary of State, who held the second most prominent position in the American government at that time. Both James Madison and James Monroe had gone from State to the presidency.

Henry Clay, Speaker of the House, who was well-known and well respected around the nation. He probably would have received the caucus nomination if he had wanted it, but he argued against the caucus process instead.

Andrew Jackson, a military hero, former governor, and former senator, who was widely viewed as the champion of the common man.

John C. Calhoun, Secretary of War, who had a strong following in South Carolina and Pennsylvania. Pressures within South Carolina state politics were forcing him to shift from his earlier stance as a nationalist to his later position as a rigid defender of states' rights. Calhoun decided there was no way he could win the presidency against such tough competition.

The traditional Congressional caucus nominated Crawford for president and Albert Gallatin for vice-president, but it was sparsely attended and was widely attacked as undemocratic. Gallatin later withdrew from the contest for the vice-presidency, after quickly becoming disillusioned by repeated attacks on his credibility made by the other candidates, and was replaced by North Carolina senator Nathaniel Macon. In 1823, Crawford suffered a stroke, crippling his bid for the presidency. Among other candidates, John Quincy Adams had more support than Henry Clay because of his huge popularity among the old Federalist voters in New England; by this time, even the traditionally Federalist Adams family had come to terms with the Democratic-Republican Party.

The election was as much a contest of favorite sons as it was a conflict over policy, although positions on tariffs and internal improvements did create some significant disagreements. In general, the candidates were favored by different sections of the country: Adams was strong in the Northeast; Jackson in the South, West and mid-Atlantic; Clay in parts of the West; and Crawford in parts of the East.

Congressman William Lowndes declined to run, as did fellow South Carolina resident and Secretary of WarJohn C. Calhoun, who was initially a fifth candidate in the early stages of consideration, but opted instead to seek the vice-presidency. Later, he backed Jackson after sensing the popularity of Crawford in the South. Both Adams and Jackson supporters backed Calhoun, giving him an easy majority of electoral votes for vice-president. In reality, Calhoun was vehemently opposed to nearly all of Adams's policies, but realizing that he was the person mostly to the win the presidency if Jackson failed to do so, did nothing to dissuade the Adams supporters.

Results by county explicitly indicating the percentage of the winning candidate in each county. Shades of blue are for Jackson (Democratic-Republican), shades of red are for Adams (Democratic-Republican), shades of yellow are for Clay (Democratic-Republican), and shades of green are for Crawford (Democratic-Republican).

The campaigning for this presidential election assumed many forms. Contrafacta, or well known songs and tunes which have been lyrically altered, were used to promote political agendas and presidential candidates. Below can be found a sound clip featuring "Hunters of Kentucky", a tune written by Samuel Woodsworth in 1815 under the title "The Unfortunate Miss Bailey". Contrafacta such as this one, which promoted Andrew Jackson as a national hero, have been a long standing tradition in presidential elections. Another form of campaigning during this election was through newsprint. Political cartoons and partisan writings were best circulated among the voting public through newspapers. Presidential candidate John C. Calhoun was one of the most directly-involved candidates in this election through his participation in the newspaper The Patriot as a member of the editorial staff. This was a sure way to promote his own political agendas and campaign. Yet it was notably unusual in that most candidates involved in early 19th century elections did not run their own political campaigns. Instead it was left to volunteer citizens and partisans to speak on their behalf.[2][3][4][5]

Jackson supporters used this Battle of New Orleans anthem as their campaign song.

Problems playing this file? See .

Results

Not surprisingly, the results of the election were inconclusive. The electoral map confirmed the candidates' sectional support, with Adams winning outright in the New England states, Jackson gleaning success in states throughout the nation, Clay attracting votes from the west, and Crawford attracting votes from the east. Andrew Jackson received more electoral and popular votes than any other candidate, but not the majority of 131 electoral votes needed to win the election. As no candidate received the required majority of electoral votes, the presidential election was decided by the House of Representatives (see "Contingent election" below). Meanwhile, John C. Calhoun easily defeated his rivals in the race for the vice-presidency, as the support of both the Adams and Jackson camps quickly gave him an unassailable lead over the other candidates.

1825 Contingent election

The voting by state in the House of Representatives. States in pink voted for Adams, states in blue for Crawford, and states in green for Jackson.

The presidential election was thrown to the U.S. House of Representatives. Following the provisions of the Twelfth Amendment, only the top three candidates in the electoral vote were admitted as candidates in the House: Andrew Jackson, John Quincy Adams, and William Harris Crawford. Henry Clay, who happened to be Speaker of the House, was left out. Clay detested Jackson and had said of him, "I cannot believe that killing 2,500 Englishmen at New Orleans qualifies for the various, difficult, and complicated duties of the Chief Magistracy."[8] Moreover, Clay's American System was far closer to Adams' position on tariffs and internal improvements than Jackson's or Crawford's, so Clay threw his support to Adams, who had many more votes than Clay. John Quincy Adams was elected President on February 9, 1825, on the first ballot,[9][10] with 13 states, followed by Jackson with 7, and Crawford with 4.

Adams' victory shocked Jackson, who, as the winner of a plurality of both the popular and electoral votes, expected to be elected president. Interestingly enough, not too long before the results of the House election, an anonymous statement appeared in a Philadelphia paper, called the Columbian Observer. The statement, said to be from a member of Congress, essentially accused Clay of selling Adams his support for the office of Secretary of State. No formal investigation was conducted, so the matter was neither confirmed nor denied. When Clay was indeed offered the position after Adams was victorious, he opted to accept and continue to support the administration he voted for, knowing that declining the position would not have helped to dispel the rumors brought against him.[11] By appointing Clay his Secretary of State, President Adams essentially declared him heir to the Presidency, as Adams and his three predecessors had all served as Secretary of State. Jackson and his followers accused Adams and Clay of striking a "corrupt bargain". The Jacksonians would campaign on this claim for the next four years, ultimately attaining Jackson's victory in the Adams-Jackson rematch in 1828.

^McNamara, R (September 2007). The Election Of 1824 Was Decided In The House Of Representatives. Retrieved October 27, 2008, from About. Com Web site: http://history1800s.about.com/od/leaders/a/electionof1824.htm

^Schimler, Stuart (February 12, 2002). Singing To The Oval Office: A Written History Of The Political Campaign Song. Retrieved October 28, 2008, from President Elect Articles Web site: http://www.presidentelect.org/art_schimler_singing.html

^McMaster, J. B. (1900). History of the People of the United States..., V. New York: D. Appleton and Company. p. 81. In Bemis, Samuel Flagg (1965). John Quincy Adams and the Union. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. p. 54.

^Akin (1824). "Caucus curs in full yell, or a war whoop, to saddle on the people, a pappoose president / J[ames] Akin, Aquafortis". Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division. Retrieved April 24, 2012.

This article was sourced from Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. World Heritage Encyclopedia content is assembled from numerous content providers, Open Access Publishing, and in compliance with The Fair Access to Science and Technology Research Act (FASTR), Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., Public Library of Science, The Encyclopedia of Life, Open Book Publishers (OBP), PubMed, U.S. National Library of Medicine, National Center for Biotechnology Information, U.S. National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health (NIH), U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, and USA.gov, which sources content from all federal, state, local, tribal, and territorial government publication portals (.gov, .mil, .edu). Funding for USA.gov and content contributors is made possible from the U.S. Congress, E-Government Act of 2002.

Crowd sourced content that is contributed to World Heritage Encyclopedia is peer reviewed and edited by our editorial staff to ensure quality scholarly research articles.

By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. World Heritage Encyclopedia™ is a registered trademark of the World Public Library Association, a non-profit organization.